A vehicle head lamp includes a spatial light modulator and a control device. The vehicle head lamp forms a desired light distribution pattern by radiating light forward via the spatial light modulator, a high luminous intensity region and a low luminous intensity region adjacent to an outer edge of the high luminous intensity region are formed in the desired light distribution pattern to be irradiated by controlling the spatial light modulator, the low luminous intensity region is configured such that the luminous intensity decreases gradationally from the outer edge of the high luminous intensity region toward an outside of the low luminous intensity region, and the control device controls the spatial light modulator so as to relatively change at least one of sizes, luminous intensities, and positions of the high luminous intensity region and the low luminous intensity region based on a traveling condition of a vehicle.

An illumination system includes: a light irradiation unit that projects light toward a predetermined illumination area; an image acquisition unit that acquires an image of the illumination area; an object detecting unit that detects a shading object based on image information of the illumination area, acquired by the image acquisition unit; an information generating unit that generates the control information for setting each of the plurality of reflecting mirrors to an on state or an off state such that a plurality of irradiation patterns are alternately irradiated, each of the plurality of irradiation patterns having different arrangement of the dark pixels and the light pixels from each other; and an irradiation control unit that controls the light irradiation unit based on the generated control information.

The invention relates to a method for calibrating a lighting apparatus, particularly lighting apparatus for a motor vehicle.

A cooperative adaptive lighting system for motor vehicles in which a vehicle transmits its geographic coordinates and receives similar coordinates from other vehicles, pedestrians, and stationary warning devices. Using the coordinates, the vehicle computes distances, and relative position more specifically, to those entities. When the distances become sufficiently small, indicating that the entities fall within headlight range, the vehicle alters its headlight beams to either (1) throw more light on an entity, (2) reduce light reaching the entity as appropriate, or (3) change a lighting pattern as appropriate.

A headlight control system has a headlight including a plurality of LED light sources, a camera and a radar that detect a predetermined target object present ahead of a vehicle, and a controller configured to control the headlight such that, when the target object is present, of the plurality of LED light sources, the LED light source irradiating a region where the target object is present is turned off, and such that, thereafter, when the target object is no longer present in the region, the turned-off LED light source is turned on again. The controller controls the headlight such that, at the time of turning on the turned-off LED light source again, a change rate of luminance of the LED light source is changed according to a position of an irradiation region of the LED light source.

A method for controlling the light distribution of vehicle headlights using vehicle-to-X communication, as well as a vehicle having an electronic circuit that executes such a method. The method can be used to implement a variable light distribution of vehicle headlights without cameras and digital maps.

The present invention relates to a vehicle head lamp driving apparatus and a vehicle provided with the same. The vehicle head lamp driving apparatus of the present invention comprises: a light output unit to output structured visible light to the front of a vehicle; a light receiving unit to receive reception light corresponding to the structured visible light; and a processor to calculate a distance to and a location of an object positioned in front of the vehicle, on the basis of the received reception light and structured visible light, wherein the light output unit comprises: a laser diode to output structured visible light having a first color; a light conversion unit for converting, into structured visible light having second and third colors, at least a part of the structured visible light having the first color; and a light diffusing unit for diffusing and outputting the structured visible light having the first to third colors to the front of the vehicle. Therefore, the distance to the object in front of the vehicle can be detected on the basis of visible light.

A vehicular lighting apparatus is relatively small, low cost, superior in mountability, and offers a superior design. The vehicular lighting apparatus attachable to a front end of a vehicle includes: a composite lens element that is a light guide element constructed by molding a translucent resin substantially into a plate-like shape; a planar light-emitting unit that emits illumination light; an optical system that transforms planar light from the light-emitting unit into linear light and that causes the linear transformed light to be incident on a rear side face of the light guide element; and a diffraction lens formed on the rear side face of the light guide element on which the linear transformed light is incident, and condensing the linear transformed light. The light condensed by the lens means is emitted from a front side face of the light guide element onto a road surface in front of the vehicle.

A vehicle headlamp light distribution control device includes: a detector that is configured to detect a reference position from an image of a frond region of a vehicle; and a controller that is configured to control, during a time period until the reference position is detected by the detector, a light distribution of a headlamp of the vehicle in accordance with a sensed inclination of the vehicle or a physical amount expressing the inclination of the vehicle, and to control, after the reference position is detected by the detector, the light distribution of the headlamp on the basis of calibrated information obtained by calibrating information obtained from the image in accordance with the detected reference position.

A computing device for a vehicle exterior light control system is described. The computing device includes one or more processors for controlling operation of the computing device, and a memory for storing data and program instructions usable by the one or more processors. The one or more processors are configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to automatically operate vehicle headlights responsive to a location of the vehicle.